BREWERY SCENE
By Jeff Rogers
You can’t always travel where you might want to go. The brewery you want to visit may be over an hour away. Or the weather has turned bad. But never fear! The Packie has you covered. Every Friday they hold an in-store tasting from 4-6, bringing in brewers from all over the region.
This past Friday, Feb 6, their guest was Feathered Friend from Concord, who brought along four delicious and widely varying beers.
Upcoming they have:
- Fri Feb 13th – 603 Brewery – Manchester
- Fri Feb 20th – Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co Waltham
- Fri Feb 27th – Notch Brewing Co – Salem MA
- Fri Mar 6th – Rockingham Brewing Co – Derry
- Fri Mar 13th – Hoptimystic Brewing Co – Enfield, Sunapee & Bow
- Fri Apr 10th – Founders Brewing Co – Grand Rapids, MI
Guests from the recent past were:
- Fri Jan 9th – Jacks Abby Brewing Co – Framingham
- Fri Jan 16th – Downeast Cider Co – East Boston
- Fri Jan 23rd – TaleSpinner Brewing Co – Nashua
- Fri Jan 30th – Protectworth Brewing Co – Newport, NH
The tasting on Friday the 6th was delightful. I arrived early, when only one other taster was present.
I joined her at the table where she was explaining to the bartender from Feathered Friend that she actually had several tattoos of birds, including a Nuthatch. “Wanna see it?” she asked. He wasn’t sure how to answer, then she began rolling up a sleeve, at which point he decided it was okay to answer, “Sure!” She revealed the nuthatch tattoo on her arm, then went on to explain how maybe it should have been upside down because they spend so much of their time upside down on trees looking for bugs. She then explained further how you can’t exclaim loudly to the room that you’ve got a nuthatch tattoo and then fail to show it off. I think we were all happy with that. A bit later we got to see a different bird on her other arm.
Meanwhile we were having small tastes of four beers from Feathered Friend. SPOILER ALERT! They were all delicious.
The beers we had were:
- Mountain Wanderer – Czech Pilsner, 5.5% ABV
CITRA hops alongside American grown pilsner malt. “We made this beer with our friend Forrest (no joke) who owns Mountain Wanderer Book & Maps in Lincoln, NH… and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to search and rescue missions across the state.”
For quite a while my go-to Czech Pilsner has been from Moat Mountain in North Conway, but this would could definitely give it a run for its money. I feel a blind-folded taste-off coming….
- Nuthatch – Peanut Butter Stout, 7% ABV
“Slightly sweet with hints of cookies, coffee, and, of course, creamy peanut butter.”
If the idea of peanut butter together with beer does not appeal to you, this is probably not for you. I’m hardly the world’s biggest peanut butter fan (that honor is held proudly by my wife) but I had to give this a try. It was delicious. The balance was perfect, the peanut butter did not overwhelm the stout beer. As my fellow taster said, “It doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth.” I brought home a four-pack of this one.
- Bloobs – Blueberry Ale, 5.5% ABV
“What makes a lager better? Blueberries! Bloobs is a light lager, dosed with bloobs and served with floating blooms.”
It seems that fruited beers are almost always sours, so this was a nice change. Before the beer touched my lips I could smell a slight aroma of blueberries, which made me want to taste it even more. A solid light lager, with a definite blueberry addition, but not overwhelming. I also brought home a four pack of this.
- Pebbles – Sour Fruited Berliner Weisse, 5.5% ABV
“A deep red raspberry kettle sour that’s tart enough to make you question your life choices, but delicious enough to make you forget them.”
While I would not use the word overwhelming, the sourness of this Berliner Weisse was unmistakable, and definitely brought a pucker to my lips. Me personally, I liked it very much. The raspberries accompanied the tartness well. After all they can often be quite tart. Another four-pack went home with me.
Just The Facts
- The Packie is at:
- 581 Second Street, Unit F
Manchester NH 03102 - Phone: 603-232-1236
- Hours:
- Mon – Closed
- Tue-Sat – 11 AM to 8 PM
- Sun – 11 AM to 5 PM
- 581 Second Street, Unit F
- Feathered Friend is at:
- 231 S Main St.
Concord, NH 03301 - Phone: 603-715-2347
- Hours:
- Mon-Wed – 12pm-9pm
- Thu-Sat – 12pm-10pm
- Sun – 12pm-8pm
- 231 S Main St.
Maps
